


we flew like birds (but everything has to land)

by Take_Me_To_My_Fragile_Dreams



Category: Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare, Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Military, Friends to Lovers, I mean it is SnK, Light Angst, M/M, Malec Week, Malec Week 2015
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-04
Updated: 2015-08-04
Packaged: 2018-04-13 00:02:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4499928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Take_Me_To_My_Fragile_Dreams/pseuds/Take_Me_To_My_Fragile_Dreams
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>August 4: Cross-over day</p><p>He hadn’t been planning on joining the Scouts, Alec had told him, soft and hesitant. But Jace had been adamant on fighting and getting out into the world, Izzy at his heels, and so he had followed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	we flew like birds (but everything has to land)

**Author's Note:**

> raise your hand if you saw this coming *raises hand* SnK is such a wonderful, angst-ridden world, and it has taken over my heart and soul. How could I not combine these two fandoms? With that said, ugg. It's been so long since I've written malec and I'm so sorry that it's something as shitty as this. I was really torn about what to write for Malec Week but then this came pouring out and well... Apologies to [malec-immortal-love](http://malec-immortal-love.tumblr.com/) over on tumblr who told me about the week and asked me to write something. I'm sure this wasn't what you were expecting and I'm sorry ;;

He was not the sort that Alec thought would end up in the military, Alec could remember thinking. Magnus was too bright, too glamorous and eccentric for war, and you would think that the military just wouldn’t suit him. It did though. Magnus came alive during battle. If he was a flame when stagnant and waiting then he was an inferno when in motion.

Everything about him was a paradox. He was tall--possibly the tallest in the Scouts--which should have made him slower but you would’ve never known watching him. Magnus could tuck his body into dizzying spins and breath catching acrobatic acts that more than made up for the extra gas he had to use to propel himself through the air. He was like a bird, able to catch the breeze and soar. Next to him, the other Scouts looked like bumbling fools, just playing at having wings. Alec had only ever seen two other people come close to his elegance, and they were his best friend and sister. His best friend and sister who would tell him that he was wrong, that there were three because he came pretty damn close as well, but that was besides the point.

The point was, that when he first saw Magnus, he did not think that he belonged. He was bright, with dark tanned skin and brilliant green/gold eyes that made him seem all the more like an exotic bird in a race that had had nearly all variety wiped out. He could certainly preen like one, that was for sure. He was someone who belonged with the king, chatting with royalty and clothed in rich fabrics that Alec could only dream of--and he could have had it too.

The story of how Magnus joined the Scout Regiments was a well known one. He was looked up to, one of the most skilled out there, and generally, when you lived past three consecutive trips outside the walls and had a kill count of over 30, you tended to get noticed. This of course, was not taking into account the fact that he was 22--something to boast of, in a branch of military with a more than 50% death rate--or his exotic looks.

When first learning about Magnus, Alec had wondered if he’d had no other choice than to join the Scouts--but even that didn’t make sense. Recruits always had the pick of either the Scouts or the Garrison whether they made it into the top ten or not. Digging deeper had only brought about more confusion, and Alec hadn’t known what to think when learning that Magnus had been not only in the top 10 of his class, but the top 5. He’d had the opportunity to live in luxury; to live sheltered and safe in the innermost walls. He could have been a part of the Military Police and lived a long and healthy life, but instead he’d chosen the Scout Regiment, where he could die the moment he stepped out into the world beyond the gates and where they were lucky if they didn’t go to bed hungry. He’d chosen literal hell over paradise and everything in Alec wanted to know _why_.

With the lowered numbers of the Scouts, Alec had many chances to find out.

In fact, coming into the Military at eighteen, Alec had fallen under Magnus’ charge, along with Jace--the aforementioned best friend--and Izzy--the aforementioned sister. It probably had something to do with their ages. While recruitment was open to everyone eleven and up, the fact of the matter was that most of the people coming in were kids. Alec, who had been thirteen at the time, had been like a black sheep, while Jace and Izzy had been able to manage a bit more at twelve. Their attitude however, had made them just as much of an oddity as he had been, and the three of them had stuck mostly to themselves throughout training. It was something Alec was sure their instructors had noticed, though knowing that cooperation was key, he had been nervous that they would split them up in an effort to spread out their skill. They hadn’t made it into the top three of their class for nothing after all.

Being placed on Magnus’ squad had been a relief, in the end. Though Alec had been nervous to get to know the man that so many had talked about, and who he probably would have never even met had situations been different. Magnus had seemed to know that from the start, his eyes soft though tone no less stern as he’d shown them the lives they would be living for as long as they could stay alive. It was a grim future, but Alec had been determined to live it for as long as he was able, the last of his family at his side.

As Magnus had sharpened their skills and turned them into true weapons for humanity, Alec had found a friend in the Captain. War had a tendency to bring others closer, as horrible as it was, and in a world where humanity had so little, friendship and family was all they really had. It was in Magnus that Alec could find it in himself to tell him why he’d come into the military at his age, reluctant and scared and at the age of nineteen. Magnus had listened as he’d told him about his parents, and how they’d been killed by fellow humans scavenging for money and food. He’d had no place else to go then, and the military had been the only place with food, drink, sleeping quarters and a wage.

He hadn’t been planning on joining the Scouts, Alec had told him, soft and hesitant. But Jace had been adamant on fighting and getting out into the world, Izzy at his heels, and so he had followed.

When he’d looked up at the other male, Magnus had looked sad and understanding. He told him that he understood, and offered his own story in turn. He talked of an orphaned boy who had no one and nothing. He lived on the streets, hungry and scared and waiting to die, until one day a parade of horses walked those same streets, with soldiers cloaked in green. They carried wings on their backs, Magnus told him, and though they were beaten and exhausted they were free. He’d signed up for training the next day, unsure of his age but boasting of eleven anyways. The rest, it seemed, was history.

Alec had disagreed. Saying it was history had an air of finality around it, and Magnus was far from dead. History was still happening, still being written, and Magnus’ story wasn’t over yet. He’d looked up at the other male then, starlight in his eyes and cloak of wings warm around his shoulders. Magnus had stared back, moonlight bathing his dark skin in silver. It would have been so easy then, to lean in and drop the kiss his lips so ached to give. Instead Alec smiled, brushing a hand against Magnus’ before standing to leave.

“See you tomorrow, Captain,” Alec murmured.

Magnus stared after him. Back then he could not have imagined when their first kiss would really take place, because perhaps he did not want it to be true. A bloodstained battlefield was not the most romantic of notions, after all, and Magnus would have liked to have shared their first real intimacy in a happier setting. As it was, it was pretty damn good considering the circumstances, and at that point Magnus wasn’t the only Captain.

**Author's Note:**

> ??????
> 
>  
> 
> find me on tumblr @ [my101fragiledreams](http://my101fragiledreams.tumblr.com/)


End file.
